What is to gain from this?

cattie

I'd listed an item of gym equipment on ebay & bidding had been quite active, especially so of the winning bidder. However winning bidder informs me that they made no bids & as they are a pensioner & live absolutely miles away from me & this a collect only item, I believe them. I told them to contact ebay & change their log in details as account possibly hijacked.

I'm puzzled though, not sure if it's some sort of scam or what but I can't quite work out a reason for doing this. Why would somebody hijack an account & make bids, surely they have nothing to gain or is it just pure & simple for devilment, anyone got an idea?

soolin

cattie said:

I'd listed an item of gym equipment on ebay & bidding had been quite active, especially so of the winning bidder. However winning bidder informs me that they made no bids & as they are a pensioner & live absolutely miles away from me & this a collect only item, I believe them. I told them to contact ebay & change their log in details as account possibly hijacked.

I'm puzzled though, not sure if it's some sort of scam or what but I can't quite work out a reason for doing this. Why would somebody hijack an account & make bids, surely they have nothing to gain or is it just pure & simple for devilment, anyone got an idea?

It might be a hack where scammer will pay using PayPal and collect, and leave you with nothing. A scammer has nothing to lose, only you the seller loses as if you refund the PayPal you lose all your fees, and onpbviosuly if you accept you run the collection scam. Many sellers will risk PayPal on collection so the scammer might find another seller who will fall for it.

Remember to cancel all the bids from that buyer before auction ends. 

cattie

Thanks Soo, it was the bidder who won auction who told me they had never bid when I contacted them after end of auction,also I'd emphasised in auction blurb that I would only accept cash on collection. This is why I can't quite work out what the reason for bidding was if account hacked/hijacked.

theonlywayisup

Could be the buyer isn't a pensioner and has buyer's remorse.

soolin

cattie said:

Thanks Soo, it was the bidder who won auction who told me they had never bid when I contacted them after end of auction,also I'd emphasised in auction blurb that I would only accept cash on collection. This is why I can't quite work out what the reason for bidding was if account hacked/hijacked.

Sorry I read it too quick, I completely missed the fact that auction has ended

You can't insist on cash on collection and the default pay now button will take the buyer immediately to paypal- so a scammer might risk it. However if they haven't tried to pay then it's probably like theonlywayisup says- a bit of buyer remorse. Just cancel the sale and try a second chance offer.